You might not have thought that Barnes & Noble would ever release another ebook reader, but the company is defying all odds and revamping the Nook. The previous Nook GlowLight was released last summer, well over a year ago, but today received a slight refresh that will bring it up to par with its prime competitor, the Kindle Paperwhite.

The Paperwhite was just updated in September, bringing a faster processor, glare-free screen, higher pixel density, improved touchscreen accuracy, and a few new software features. The Kindle has 2GB of storage and a rubberized body that is rather comfortable to hold. Almost as if they predicted the update, the new B&N GlowLight features a more comfortable rubberized body with a soft touch band around the edges, a bump to 4GB of storage, slightly reduced weight, a whiter display background, sharper text, new custom fonts from Monotype, and an improved UI. The new Nook is now white, which B&N’s product people say helps with the reading experience, and allows the ebook reader to frame the page in the same way the margins of a book do.

One of the more interesting steps forward taken by B&N is an advance with the E Ink display the reader users. Normally, E Ink displays require a full page refresh after a certain number of page flips. E Ink’s regal waveform technology, which is used in the new Nook, reduces the frequency of full page refreshes making for a more pleasant reading experience, especially if you are using the reader for extended periods of time. This technology also made its way into the latest Kindle, underlining another similarity found in all these readers.

Ebook reader buyers have to keep in mind that readers are basically the least technical of all gadgets. They have processors, batteries, flash storage, and all the rest of the components that we associate with tablets and smartphones, but the truth is that none of these things matter when it comes to ebook reading. The difference between the best and the worst electronic ink reader is pretty minimal, consisting largely of how fast a page turns, how white the screen is, and how many hundreds of books the device can hold. At this point the top readers also offer backlights, so you don’t have to fire up your phone or tablet to read at night. [For more, check out our reader battle: Kobo Aura HD vs. Kindle Paperwhite.]

What really matters with book buyers — what B&N has just started to realize — is that once you get to the point where an ebook reader is sufficiently functional, the tech no longer matters. So long as you can turn a page in a reasonable amount of time, navigate the device, and the battery last for weeks on end, then what really matters is experience and ecosystem. Amazon is really (really) hard to beat on ecosystem, but B&N thinks it can compete on experience. The company is pushing the experience aspect, touting their expert booksellers who have incredible knowledge of their field.

It’s not clear if readers will buy into B&N’s man vs. the machine comparison, in which humble book nerds fight against Amazon’s near-sentient, cloud-powered recommendation engine. The devices are close enough that the hardware is no longer a differentiation point and people that have not yet bought into Amazon’s ecosystem might consider the Nook, which is priced on par with the Kindle (and is less expensive than the Kindle version without ads). Even so, Amazon’s release of attractive offerings, like Kindle BookMatch, might mean that no matter how good the new Nook is, B&N just can’t win over enough people to let its strengths — like free in-store setup and personalized recommendations — become known to buyers.

The new Nook GlowLight will only be available in one model (4GB) and goes on sale today for $119. The cover (which isn’t very nice) will cost your $22. The standard Simple Touch is still available for $79.